The International Colombia Corporation (CCI) seeks to open spaces for fruit and vegetable producers to come into contact with some of the most important investors in the world, Therefore, on September 6, some of these Colombian products will be marketed at Macfrut, one of the most important agricultural fairs on the European continent in Rimini, Italy.
For some time now, the country has increased its production of Hass avocado, This is due to the fact that many crops of illicit use have been restored with this product. Colombia is the third country with the largest area planted in Hass avocado and the fourth in production worldwide.
These have been replaced with this product due to its profitability, according to Semana Magazine, one of the example cases is that of Marcos Diego Valverde one of the first Hass avocado growers in El Crucero, village of Sotará, Cauca, as his initiative motivated other farmers in the region to leave illicit crops to dedicate themselves to food production.
“I am 65 years old and it only motivates me to know the avocado process and that is how other people think, because with this model many people are coming out of illicit crops. It sells very well. Procolombia and the CCI help us to communicate in English with other entrepreneurs willing to buy many containers annually “Valverde recounted.
The project has even been so successful not only in Cauca but also at the national level that, according to Fedegan, the Colombian Hass avocado was consolidated in 2020 as the second product of the non-traditional agro-export basket, adding US $ 144 million in sales abroad and a share of 11% within total non-traditional exports. Given this, Colombia is today the third largest Hass avocado exporter in the world.
In fact, data from the Center for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for Development (Ciras, for its acronym in French) revealed that Colombia was the first avocado supplier in Europe during the first weeks of 2021.
Even at the time Jorge Enrique Restrepo, director of Corpohass, explained that “The great protagonist of the moment in the supply of Hass avocado to Europe is Colombia with 30% participation”, as Mexico concentrated its shipments to the United States.
Adriana Senior Mojica, president of the CCI and promoter of the fair, affirmed that Macfrut is a very important space not only for the European market but also includes very important buyers from Asia and the Middle East. “For Colombia it is one of the best scenarios in a completely specialized fair,” he assured.
What’s more, According to the people who know this space, one of the main attractions of this fair for investors is that it allows them to close deals with producers directly to bring exotic fruits from Colombia to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Italy and continents such as the Asian, where they have become very desirable.
Colombia increased the export of Hass avocado in two years
The country continues to bet that the avocado is one of the emblematic products, and that in addition to being reflected in production, is also shown in the export figures. Colombia went from exporting 32,775 tons of Hass avocado in 2018 to 77,075 tons last year, an increase of 135% in exports.
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